However, when Caela bade her brother a good morning, and turned her attention instead
to chatting with one of her more recently arrived attending ladies, a young widow called Alditha,
Edward relaxed and allowed himself to be distracted by the priests and bishops gathered around
him.
In the late morning, Caela beckoned Judith closer. ―I have decided to take an interest in
my Lady Alditha,‖ she said, gracing the said lady with a lovely smile. ―I wonder if you could see
to it that her sleeping arrangements are changed. Currently poor Alditha shares with five other of
my ladies, as well as one of the under-cooks, and she sleeps badly. Perhaps…‖ Caela paused as if
thinking, one finger tapping gently against her lower lip. ―Perhaps Alditha can take over the
chamber in that annexe which runs between our palace and Harold‘s hall? You know the one,
surely. The Bishop of Kent occupied it before he so sorrowfully succumbed to his ailments.‖
Judith blinked, trying to mask her confusion. She glanced at Alditha, a pretty woman
with a heart-shaped face and generous hazel eyes, who looked just as confused with the attention
she was receiving as felt Judith. And the chamber of the (sorrowfully now deceased) Bishop of
Kent? Why, not only was that a sumptuous chamber, it was also a very private chamber in a
palace complex where privacy was a highly valued thing indeed. She wondered what Caela was
up to…why establish Alditha in such a fine, and finely private, chamber?
And one so close to Harold‘s own private apartments?
―Of course, madam,‖ she said, inclining her head.
―And when you have done that, and settled Alditha comfortably,‖ Caela continued, ―I
wonder if you might bring the physician Saeweald to attend me? And the prioress Ecub? Mother
Ecub has been complaining recently about her aching knees and I think it time I grant her a
consultation with Edward‘s own physician. Don‘t you agree?‖
―Yes, madam.‖ Judith locked eyes with Caela, understanding.
―Perhaps in my solar,‖ said Caela. ―I will withdraw for a little while.‖
―Yes, madam.‖
―I am sorry that for so long I had no memory, and that you were sorrowed and troubled
because of it,‖ Caela said once Saeweald, Ecub and Judith had gathered in her solar. They were
not entirely alone, for below the windows sat another three of the queen‘s ladies, their heads bent
over their needlework, but Caela and her three companions were far enough distant in their
chairs about the hearth that they could talk in reasonable privacy. To have insisted the ladies take
their needlework elsewhere would have invited gossip and unwelcome curiosity.
―But you remember now…madam?‖ Saeweald said. He hesitated at the end of the
question before adding the ―madam‖. His concern was obvious. How should he address this
woman: his friend, queen, and now, reborn goddess?
Caela nodded. ―Most things, yes, although there is still some vagueness.‖ She shifted a
little in her chair, her eyes glancing over at the group of ladies under the window. ―My friends, I
am still Caela to you in private, and madam in public. I am nothing else.‖
―You are Mag,‖ Ecub said.
Caela hesitated a fraction before replying. ―I have her within me, her power and
knowledge and memory, but I am still Caela, Cornelia-reborn. I am simply more than she had
once been.‖
Ecub gave a small smile, her creased face kind and loving. ―And perhaps not. When you
first came to this land we knew you were somehow different. You were always, and will always
be, beloved.‖
At that Caela lowered her face, drawing in a deep breath as she blinked back tears. ―I say
again,‖ she said as she raised her eyes and looked in turn at each of the three, ―that I have been
well served in you and that you have my unending gratitude for staying by me, even when you
thought I had no memory and when you have every reason to suspect me of uselessness in the
struggle that is to come.‖
―To destroy the Game,‖ Saeweald said.
Caela looked at him, her gaze clear and direct. She opened her mouth as if to speak, then
closed it again, having reconsidered. ―Let me tell you, briefly, how things came to pass. In the
world where Cornelia came from, the Aegean world, there was a great goddess named Hera. She
had once been all-powerful, magnificent, but had been cruelly crippled by Ariadne‘s darkcraft.
Before she died, she approached Mag—also suffering from the malevolence of the
Darkwitches—and suggested a plan. A means to outwit the Darkwitches and Mag‘s land saved.‖
―But not Hera‘s world?‖ Judith said.
―No. That was too badly corrupted. It was dying. There was nothing Hera or Mag could
do about that. But Hera could aid Mag and Mag‘s land, and she did so by passing on her
knowledge and cunning.‖
―How to destroy the Game,‖ Saeweald said, and again Caela glanced at him, this time
with her brow very slightly furrowed.
―Mag needed a place to hide,‖ Caela continued, ―and Hera showed her Cornelia. But
Cornelia…but I… was not simply a place to hide. In rebirth—and Hera and Mag knew that what
needed to be done would take more than one lifetime—Mag would be reborn within my flesh,
giving her power and her potential new vitality.‖
Judith frowned. ―But Mag was within your womb—‖
―No,‖ Caela said. ―That was merely a phantom. A decoy, if you will. Hera and Mag had
known about Asterion, and had known his malevolence and the danger he presented. Mag
pretended an alliance with the Minotaur, but knew that eventually he would turn against her. She
had no illusions about that. Thus the phantom within my womb that he could ‗murder‘, and my
lack of memory. Asterion had to be convinced that he had disposed of Mag, and, subsequently,
that I was no threat. He did just that, murdering the phantom Mag, and convincing himself that
poor Caela was of no consequence. Now I am safe, we are safe, for Asterion thinks us all of little matter or danger to him in the game ahead.‖
―And the Sidlesaghes?‖ asked Ecub.
―The Sidlesaghes have always been intimately connected with a goddess‘ rebirth. They
also knew something of Mag‘s plan. When they felt Asterion readying himself, they walked.
When Asterion ‗murdered‘ Mag, then convinced himself that I was no threat, then it would be
time to rebirth the goddess.‖
―And thus they approached me,‖ said Ecub, ―and then Judith.‖
―Yes,‖ said Caela.
―Tell us, great Mother,‖ said Saeweald, his face alive with eagerness, ―how will you
destroy the Game? How will you return this land to its purity?‖
There was a moment‘s silence, a stillness, during which Caela visibly steeled herself.
―I have no intention of destroying the Game,‖ she said eventually, watching Saeweald
carefully.
― What? ‖ Saeweald said, tensing as if to rise.
―Be still!‖ Caela hissed, and Saeweald subsided at the command in her voice.
Caela glanced at the ladies under the window, but they had not moved, nor glanced up
from their needlework.
―The Troy Game will save this land,‖ Caela continued, her voice low and compelling. ―It
will be completed, but not by Swanne and William. Not by Genvissa and Brutus-reborn.‖
Her three companions stared at her, their bewilderment clear.
― I will complete the Game,‖ Caela said. ―With Og-reborn. ‖
There was a long hush as Saeweald, Ecub and Judith stared at Caela, then exchanged
glances between themselves.
―Og-reborn?‖ Saeweald said, very slowly, and a flush mottled his cheeks. Og-reborn! He
could not help a thrill of excitement.
―How can this be so?‖ Ecub said eventually. ―Lady, we…we do not understand. The
Game completed? By you and Og-reborn?‖
―The Troy Game is not the evil thing that you believe,‖ Caela said. ―You only saw it so
because its creators, Genvissa and Brutus, worked it with corruption rather than with good
intention and meaning. Used correctly, the Game is a powerful and beneficial thing, and it can be used to protect this land as nothing else could be. But to use the Game to its full potential, to use
it to aid this land, then we need to wrest control of it away from Swanne and William.‖
―Gods,‖ Ecub muttered. ―No wonder you had to divert Asterion‘s attention away from
you. It is enough that you have set yourself against Swanne and William; you do not need to
contend with Asterion as well.‖
―Since the time Genvissa and Brutus left the Game unfinished,‖ Caela said, ―the Game
has all but merged with the land. The land and the Troy Game have, if you like, negotiated an
alliance. Hera told Mag that this would be so; that if the Darkwitch and Brutus were stopped
before they completed the Game, and the Game and the land upon which it sat were left to their
own devices, then they would come to an understanding.‖
―Og-reborn?‖ said Saeweald, who had paid little attention to anything else Caela had